Duties of the Department of Education and school district instructional materials reviewer.

The duties of the instructional materials reviewer are:

(1) PROCEDURES.—To adhere to procedures prescribed by the department or the district for evaluating instructional materials submitted by publishers and manufacturers in each adoption. This section applies to both the state and district approval processes.

(2) EVALUATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS.—To use the selection criteria listed in s. 1006.34(2)(b) and recommend for adoption only those instructional materials aligned with the state standards provided for in s. 1003.41. Instructional materials recommended by each reviewer shall be, to the satisfaction of each reviewer, accurate, objective, balanced, noninflammatory, current, free of pornography and material prohibited under s. 847.012, and suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented. Reviewers shall consider for recommendation materials developed for academically talented students, such as students enrolled in advanced placement courses. When recommending instructional materials, each reviewer shall:

(a) Include only instructional materials that accurately portray the ethnic, socioeconomic, cultural, religious, physical, and racial diversity of our society, including men and women in professional, career, and executive roles, and the role and contributions of the entrepreneur and labor in the total development of this state and the United States.

(b) Include only materials that accurately portray, whenever appropriate, humankind’s place in ecological systems, including the necessity for the protection of our environment and conservation of our natural resources and the effects on the human system of the use of tobacco, alcohol, controlled substances, and other dangerous substances.

(c) Include materials that encourage thrift, fire prevention, and humane treatment of people and animals.

(d) Require, when appropriate to the comprehension of students, that materials for social science, history, or civics classes contain the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. A reviewer may not recommend any instructional materials that contain any matter reflecting unfairly upon persons because of their race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, disability, socioeconomic status, or occupation or otherwise contradict the principles enumerated under s. 1003.42(3).

(e) When such instructional materials are for foundational reading skills, include only materials that are based on the science of reading and include phonics instruction for decoding and encoding as the primary instructional strategy for word reading. Instructional strategies within such materials may not employ the three-cueing system model of reading or visual memory as a basis for teaching word reading. Instructional strategies within such materials may include visual information and strategies which improve background and experiential knowledge, add context, and increase oral language and vocabulary to support comprehension, but may not be used to teach word reading.

(3) REPORT OF REVIEWERS.—After a thorough study of all data submitted on each instructional material, to submit an electronic report to the department. The report shall be made public and must include responses to each section of the report format prescribed by the department.